Practice News Story 11: Accident

Posted: 4:45 p.m. MT Nov. 28, 2007

TREMONTON, UT - Along Interstate 84 in Tremonton, UT, at approximately 4:00 p.m., a van carrying 10 students and 1 instructor, veered off the road and rolled several times, throwing victims from the van.  Lieutenant Jason Jensen says it was one of the, "Worst scenes I've ever seen in 11 years."  After his preliminary investigation, speed and possible mechanical malfunction may be the cause.

Eyewitness, Jenni Johnson was behind the vehicle as it happened.  She says that a truck had passed her and she was beginning to pass the van because it was slowing down.  The accident occurred and Jenni says, "The van swerved and went of the road and flipped and bodies where shooting out."  She stopped to help and had a man from another vehicle call 911 as she did what she could to help.

President Stan Albrecht of Utah State University says, "The timing of this event will affect the students more than anything else."  It is the first day of Ag Week, an event sponsored by the College of Agriculture.  The van was on a University sanctioned field trip with 10 students from the Agricultural department.  The University is making sure to contact those families of the victims.  the University is still deciding on how Ag Week will play out and also they are planning memorial service.

Extra Practice News Story 10: Investigation

Posted: 10:20 a.m. MT Nov. 15, 2007

LOGAN, UT - At 7:30 on Nov. 14, 2007, William and Melinda Gates were seen with Ted Turner getting of a plane in Abuja, Nigeria to meet with African officials.  After speaking with Bill, we found that the three are meeting to organize an educational program for the people of Africa.  Abuja, Nigeria Mayor Malik Ok said that this, "involves at least five nations."  He would like to emphasize, "at least five." 

The program, according to both Mr. Gates and Mayor Ok, would focus on educating the people in health related fields.  Bill said, "We are targeting education on diseases that we think shouldn’t be killing as many people as they are now…we believe with education that these diseases can be prevented…prevention is not that difficult."  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes, found on their website:

There are two simple values that lie at the core of the foundation’s work:

• All lives—no matter where they are being led—have equal value.
• To whom much is given, much is expected.

Bill Gates informed us that they have been in discussion with officials for three months now and will make a formal announcement in about a month.   The program is planned to begin within the next three months.  Mayor Malik Ok referred to the proverb of giving a man a fish will feed him for a day while teaching a man to fish will feed him for a life time.  This is the goal of this foundations efforts.

The foundation will be created in the near future by Mr. Turner.  A formal announcement is to come.  Mr. Turner wants the Gates to withhold the details of the project for now.  Speaking about Mr. Turners trust with the Gates, "He is going to go through that foundation [soon to be created foundation for this cause] and is going to lest us handle the day to day functions."  Ted will invest a substantial amount of money and his purpose is in harmony with the Gates' foundation.

From the foundation's website:

Every day, more than 1,000 children die because they didn’t get a 15-cent measles vaccine. Almost 3 billion people around the world live on less than $2 per day. Here in the United States, only one-third of the students who start the ninth grade will graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed in college and work.

The Gates, along with Mr. Turner, are taking steps to fulfill two major problems: education and health.  The people of Africa are in need and can be helped with these generous people.  The purpose is to set the framework for the future.  In ten years, the people of Africa will take over this project and sustain themselves in health and education.  This small step is one of many that will help bring the globe together and express love and service to all people.

Practice News Story 10: Investigation

Posted: 4:45 p.m. MT Nov. 14, 2007

LOGAN, UT - At 7:30 this morning, William and Melinda Gates were seen with Ted Turner getting of a plane in Abuja, Nigeria to meet with African officials.  After speaking with Bill, we found that the three are meeting to organize an educational program for the people of Africa.  Abuja, Nigeria Mayor Malik Ok said that this, "involves at least five nations."  He would like to emphasize, "at least five." 

The program, according to both Mr. Gates and Mayor Ok, would focus on educating the people in health related fields.  Bill said, "We are targeting education on diseases that we think shouldn’t be killing as many people as they are now…we believe with education that these diseases can be prevented…prevention is not that difficult."

Bill Gates informed us that they have been in discussion with officials for three months now and will make a formal announcement in about a month.   The program is planned to begin within the next three months.  Mayor Malik Ok referred to the proverb of giving a man a fish will feed him for a day while teaching a man to fish will feed him for a life time.  This is the goal of this foundations efforts. The foundation will be created in the near future by Mr. Turner.  A formal announcement is to come.

Practice News Story 9: Sports

Posted 10:56 p.m. MT Nov. 7, 2007

Jazz Turn on the Energy and Put down Cleveland

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - After a loss last Monday, the Utah Jazz increased their energy and pulled a seven-point win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at 106-99. With a home court advantage, the Jazz were able to pull ahead at the last few minutest of the game. Utah Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan said, "I feel our team could have don’t better defensively." Speaking about the end of the game and the performance of his players, Sloan also said, "It could have gone either way."

Andrei Kirilenko had an improved performance in contrast with the previous game. He was able to block a slam-dunk attempted by LeBron James of the Cavaliers. This was, according to Kirilinko, a type of recompense for he himself being blocked in a slam-dunk in the previous game.

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown said about the game, "Nothing went wrong. We were right there the whole game. We just couldn’t get things together to pull it out in time." Both coaches agreed that the game was in the air and winnable by either team right down till the end. "We just didn’t have chemistry at the end to pull out the win," says Brown.

Sloan attributes the end of game success to CJ Miles and Paul Millsap for their three pointers scored outside of their planned for plays. "Gave the veterans some energy," Sloan comments. This helped, along with Kirilinko's contributed energy throughout the game. The Jazz look forward to playing the Seattle SuperSonics this coming Friday.

Extra Practice News Story 8: Business

Posted: 11:55 p.m. MT Nov. 1, 2007

Google Bids for Time Warner at $60 Billion

Palo Alto, CA - Time Warner Inc. (TWX) received a hostile takeover bid from Google Inc. (GOOG) today. After speaking with Industry Analysis Paul Kim, the extreme nature of this takeover is explained. According to Kim, Google has offered $60 billion in debt, cash, and stocks. The debt is measured at $5 billion, the cash at $10 billion, and the stock at $45 billion. The cash, he says, is an added bonus. CEO of Time Warner, Richard D. Parsons, says that they will do their analysis which may take a month.

Dr. Eric Schmidt CEO and Chair of Google, said, "We saw the need to add content production to our company quickly. They are one of the biggest content producers; we are one of the biggest content distributors. Merge content production with content distribution. It make good sense to us." He also commented that this takeover has been under consideration for under six months.

Our industry analyst says, "I don't know why Time-Warner would turn it down."  There was comment on the future of the company and the Federal Communications Commission.  The size of this could be company may create a sting with the officials at the FCC.  Large conglomerates tend to create controversy because of convergence of media.

Terry Semel, CEO and Chair of Yahoo (YHOO), Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), and William Gates, Chair of Microsoft, all offered no comment.